Larry Jaques wrote:
...That she was harassed by the police is
inexcusable, especially when you take into
account that the bully's parents didn't press charges.

I think there's part of the story we're not getting here.
If the "victim" (the boy and his parents) doesn't
press criminal charges, then there effectively
is no crime. There's nobody to go to court and
claim "I was injured".

If you (anyone) and I get into a fight and
you kick my ass, if I choose NOT to press
charges against you, that's the end of
the case. The rare exception to that, in
most states, is spousal abuse. Husband and
wife have a fight, she's bloody but refuses
to press charges. In that case, LE officer
can press charges against the suspect. But
that deals with domestic abuse where the two
parties will be oblig forced to be together
once the cops leave (husb/wife). I've never
heard of that applying to kids playing or
even kids maliciously injuring each other.

Who called the cops in the first place?
Maybe it was in the story but I don't recall.

I suggest that, typical of "news stories" it's
adding in "facts" and assumptions that aren't there.
Maybe the boy's parents didn't press "civil" charges
but they did press criminal charges.

Battery, robbery and related crimes are based on the
"perception of the victim". ie if I hold up a bank
with toy gun that looks real, and the bank teller "thinks"
that the gun is real, and is genuinely afraid for their
life, I'm typically charged with the same level of crime
had the gun been real.

With rare exceptions, cops can't simply arrest someone
without a complainant.

Sgt Lumpy